Movie Review

It's not nearly as surprising as who will receive an Oscar at the 86th Academy Awards, as who has not received a competitive Oscar.

The list, to name a few, includes Alfred Hitchcock, Cary Grant and Peter O'Toole.

That said, the year 2013 is memorable for brilliant directing, brave acting and superb productions. It was a year for the ascendancy of African-American directors and actors, as well as for fact-based stories.

This year, there could even be a WeightWatchers honor in the first category:

Usually, the merchandise tie-in, toys and product promotions occur immediately before, during or after the release of a major motion picture.

With "The Lego Movie," the toys were there first.

Lego (from the Danish, "leg godt" (play well) is the brainchild of Ole Kirk Christiansen, a carpenter in Denmark. From 1949 to 2013, an estimated 560 billion Lego were manufactured. The colorful interlocking plastic bricks and accompanying gears, figurines and parts are connected imaginatively to construct vehicles, buildings and displays.

The film, set during a cold snowy winter in 1961, mainly in New York City's Greenwich Village nascent folk music scene, follows the career and personal train wreck that is the life of a guitar-strumming, songwriting, folksinger, Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac).

The debauchery of Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio), "The Wolf" of the movie's title, would seem to rival what we read and see of the lifestyles of the rich and famous, namely, rock stars, hip-hop stars, movie and TV actors, professional athletes, and Middle East potentates.

It's when a movie reviewer or someone writing or discussing a movie gives away a key plot point, one that might "spoil" the movie for you if you haven't seen it because the suspense or surprise of not knowing the reveal, or story resolve, or plot outcome, is removed.

Recently, you couldn't turn on the TV without seeing Will Ferrell portraying Ron Burgundy.

In car commercials, promotional segments and actual broadcast news shows, there was Will Ferrell as Ron Burgundy, never breaking character.

In "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues," Will Ferrell continues the ruse as Ron Burgundy.

Ferrell, co-writing the screenplay with his producing-writing partner, Adam McKay, who is back to direct "Anchorman 2," misses no opportunity to show how dim-witted, self-absorbed, politically-incorrect and oblivious to it all is Ron Burgundy.

Scenes depict the stark Nebraska landscape as Woody (Bruce Dern) and his son, David (Will Forte) drive from Billings, Mont., to Lincoln, Neb., to "claim" a $1 million-prize in a Publishers' Clearing House type magazine subscription promotion.